NanoExplorers
The George A. Jeffrey NanoExplorers Program promotes nanotechnology based education for high school students entering the 10th-12th grades. The goal of the program is to inspire high school students to become productive scientists and engineers by enabling them to do original research work. Once admitted into the program, students are able to join a faculty member’s research lab based on their interest. They are taught the skills needed to test their ideas, and how to team, and are encouraged to play with new concepts and to invent. As much as possible, they are treated like any other member of the lab. The work they do is associated with actual funded programs at the university and they work to deliver real results.
–
Now Accepting Applications for the 2024 George A Jeffrey NanoExplorers Summer Program
The application site for the 2024 George A. Jeffrey NanoExplorers summer program is now live. Applications must be submitted online at https://app.nanoexplorers.org. To be considered for the program, completed applications including letters of recommendation must be received by 5:00 p.m. on March 29, 2024. Students invited to participate in the program will be notified by email on or before April 26, 2024. Please read the Requirements and FAQs before applying
History: on a rainy day in 1959, a teenage Ray Baughman had an experience that changed his life. Completely drenched, he arrived unannounced at Professor George Jeffrey’s lab door at the University of Pittsburgh and asked for a job.
“The wonderful opportunity that he gave me to do original research when I was in the 10th grade was so important for my entire life,” said Dr. Baughman, director of the Alan MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute at The University of Texas at Dallas. The experience had a profound effect, setting in motion an inevitable series of events. In the spirit of his mentor, the NanoTech Institute initiated the George A. Jeffrey NanoExplorers program. The program promotes nanotechnology based education for the next generation of scientists and is funded by the Robert A. Welch Chair grant Dr. Baughman received in chemistry. In the summer of 2002, when about a dozen high school students were invited to work on original research in the institute’s labs, the NanoExplorers program was launched. The NanoExplorers program was launched in the summer of 2002, when about a dozen high school students were invited to work on original research in the institute’s labs. Training on lab safety and proper research techniques are the hallmarks of the program. Once lab procedures are mastered, students are guided by programs formulated by researchers. Later, NanoExplorers are free to choose their own research paths. “It’s amazing what advances very young people can make if they become interested in a problem,” Dr. Baughman said. NanoExplorers present their work at the institute’s annual research symposium. They have coauthored scientific papers, presented at international conferences, and won international scholarship competitions. Over 200 high school students have gone through the NanoExplorers program since its inception. Some become UTD students, others go on to Harvard, Stanford, and MIT. Many come back to study at the institute each summer. “Once a NanoExplorer, always a NanoExplorer!”
You must be logged in to post a comment.